Hulu cuts free streaming; NBCUniversal will fuel your Potter mania, and more news.
Lorraine K. Lee
Corporate Keynote Speaker & Trainer | LinkedIn Learning, Stanford CSP Instructor | Ex-Founding Editor at LinkedIn, Prezi | Author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career (Wiley 2025)
Hulu is eliminating its offering of free, ad-supported TV episodes after nine years, instead opting to expand on its existing distribution deal with Yahoo by offering an all-subscription model as part of Yahoo View. If you’re behind on your shows, now’s the time to binge: Hulu’s free service will be phased out in the next few weeks.
Wingardium Leviosa! NBCUniversal has acquired the rights to the “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” franchises as part of a seven-year deal beginning July 2018. All movies will be available on NBC’s cable networks and give NBC a chance to boost theme park attendance. The deal is valued at about $200 million -- but may grow based on the success of the Fantastic Beasts films (which, if the Harry Potter films are any indication, will be the case), Bloomberg reports.
In more NBC news… Comcast’s NBCUniversal will begin creating original content for Snapchat, beginning with a series that spins off of its wildly popular show, “The Voice.” “The Voice on Snapchat” will collect user-submitted performances judged by ‘coaches’ from the show, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Facebook is rolling out an Express Wi-Fi program in India as part of a greater initiative to make broadband Internet accessible to rural areas. Currently about 462 million (about ? of the population) has Internet access. Earlier this year Facebook’s Free Basics plan in India was pulled after it was ruled that the plan involved discriminatory pricing of its data.
From Whopper to Whopperito: Burger King is taking on Chipotle with its latest Tex-Mex item, the Whopperito. The King hopes to attract customers who may now be deterred from Chipotle following its various outbreaks. Chipotle isn’t sitting back -- it recently announced a burger store, Tasty Made, to open this fall.
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Cover Art: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley is seen at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. (John Gress / Contributor)
Software Quality Engineer, Looking for new opportunities
8 年I *had* been considering adding a Hulu Premium subscription on top of the Netflix and Crunchyroll subscriptions we already have, even though I haven't watched much (if anything) on Hulu for quite some time. We dropped CableTV last year, and for the most part have whatever we want with those along with other ad-supported streaming sites, other than 2 or 3 network shows (which are *not* worth the extra $80 for TV from Comcast just to occasionally watch them). But a company's attitude and customer service is just as important to me as the product they provide. And I really don't like the impression that Hulu wants to strong-arm their customers, forcing them into a subscription whether they wanted it or not. So I an seriously reconsidering my thoughts on this, and I really think I will pass on ever watching Hulu again, subscription or no subscription.
Technical Consultant
8 年Happily sharing it.
Charles T Sebesta
8 年Interesting
Strategy | Corporate Marketing | Product Marketing | Marketing Management | Director | Communication | Cybersecurity
8 年Is this signaling the potential end of the freemium model in some business segments?